(Rocky Hill, CT) - The Criminal Justice Commission today announced that the Commission will interview the following six candidates for appointment as the next Deputy Chief State's Attorney, Inspector General:
- Attorney Leonard M. Crone, who served as a police officer with the town of Monroe from 1981 to 1986 before working as a criminal defense lawyer for more than 35 years and running his own law firm in Waterbury.
- The Honorable Eliot D. Prescott, currently a Senior Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court, who has served as a Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court since 2014 and as a Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court from 2004 to 2014.
- The Honorable Kevin A. Randolph, who has served as a Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court since April 2006 after a career as a criminal defense lawyer for both his own law office from 1996-2006, and for the State of Connecticut Office of the Public Defender from 1990-1995.
- The Honorable Kevin S. Russo, who has served as a Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court since 2014 and as a Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney from 2007-2014, and Assistant State’s Attorney from 1998-2007 for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.
- Attorney C. Robert Satti, Jr., who worked as a prosecutor for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice for more than 40 years, serving as an Assistant State’s Attorney from 1983 to 2009, and as a Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney from 2009 to 2022.
- Attorney Herman Woodard, Jr., who has run his own law firm in Windsor since 1999 and has served as an Assistant State’s Attorney from 1995-1998 for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.
The Commission will conduct the interviews during a special public meeting scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Room 2A of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The Commission currently anticipates acting on the appointment later the same day. The public is invited to make comments into the record following the interviews of the six candidates concerning the qualifications of any of the candidates.
Each member of the public who wishes to comment will have three minutes to do so. In lieu of personally attending the meeting, which may last for six hours or more before members of the public will be heard, prepared comments may be sent in advance of the interviews and will be distributed to members of the Commission. Any prepared comments should be submitted to the Criminal Justice Commission, c/o the Division of Criminal Justice at 300 Corporate Place, Rocky Hill, CT 06067 or emailed to the Commission at conndcj@ct.gov by Friday, April 25, 2025.
Deputy Chief State's Attorney, Inspector General Robert J. Devlin, Jr. informed the Commission in November 2024 of his intention to retire at the end of his term on June 30, 2025.
“The Criminal Justice Commission is fortunate to have six well-qualified and accomplished candidates seeking this very challenging and important position,” said Justice Andrew J. McDonald, who serves as chair of the Commission. “We are confident that the next Inspector General the Commission appoints will carry on Inspector General Devlin’s legacy of high-performance standards, transparency and commitment to justice in the investigation of police use-of-force cases.”
The Deputy Chief State’s Attorney, Inspector General, is responsible for leading the Office of Inspector General, conducting investigations of peace officers in accordance with C.G.S. §51-277a, as amended by the Act, prosecuting any cases in which the Inspector General determines a peace officer used force found to not be justifiable pursuant to C.G.S. §53a-22 or where a police officer or correctional officer fails to intervene in any such incident or to report any such incident, as required under subsection (a) of C.G.S. §7-282e or C.G.S. §18-81nn, as applicable. The Inspector General also will make recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council established under C.G.S. §7-294b concerning censure and suspension, renewal, cancelation or revocation of a peace officer’s certification. The Inspector General will be appointed to a four-year term of office beginning July 1, 2025.
Established under Article XXIII of the Connecticut Constitution, the Criminal Justice Commission is responsible for the appointment of all state prosecutors in Connecticut. In addition to Justice McDonald, Senior Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, the commission's membership includes Chief Judge of the Appellate Court Melanie L. Cradle, attorneys Robert M. Berke, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Scott J. Murphy and Moy N. Ogilvie and Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin. By law, the Chief State's Attorney does not participate in the appointment of Deputy Chief State's Attorneys.